Clinton Earns CNN's 'Play of Week' After Musings About 3rd Term
--4/17/2006

the Steven P.J. Wood Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research and Publications

1.Clinton Earns CNN's 'Play of Week' After Musings About 3rd Term
Three days after CNN's Wolf Blitzer wondered, on The Situation Room, "if Bill Clinton could run for President again, would he be re-elected?" and Jack Cafferty excitedly agreed "he probably would be, in a heartbeat" since "Clinton would be the answer to a prayer" for Democrats, CNN's Bill Schneider on Friday awarded Bill Clinton with his "Political Play of the Week." Schneider touted how "in a series of appearances this week, the former President made a point of separating his career from his wife's," so "if Senator Clinton runs for President, it will be harder to depict her campaign as the Clinton restoration." Schneider trumpeted how this week Bill Clinton had "won the 'Great American Award' from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and the 'J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding.'" After a clip of Clinton praising Jimmy Carter for how "he won a Nobel Prize, which he richly deserved, as much for what he did after he left the White House as when he was in," Schneider heralded how "Bill Clinton is still campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize. But, for now, he'll just have to settle for the 'Political Play of the Week.'"

2.ABC Frets "Maverick" John McCain Making a "Right Turn"
Demonstrating that for the press corps "maverick" means going to the left -- or at least that you're a conservative-basher -- ABC's World News Tonight on Friday aired a story fretting about how the media's favorite Republican has agreed to give the commencement address at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. "During his 2000 campaign, McCain gathered support as a straight-talking maverick by attacking some members of his party's base," anchor Elizabeth Vargas recalled while viewers saw "Right Turn?" beneath a picture of McCain. She then warned: "Now it appears he's on a very different course." Reporter Dan Harris fondly remembered how in 2000 "straight talk included taking on powerful Christian conservatives like Jerry Falwell, whom he called an 'agent of intolerance.'" Harris then repeatedly pushed McCain to denounce Falwell: "Let me just press you on this. Do you think he's still an 'agent of intolerance'?...So do you take back your statement about him being an 'agent of intolerance'?" Noting how analysts say McCain is trying to "repair relations with the religious right" before he launches another presidential bid, Harris cautioned McCain: "Politicians often try to appeal to the party's base, but for McCain, doing so could jeopardize his reputation for being a different kind of politician."

3.Hume Scolds Williams for Baseless Charge Bush Ignored WMD Report
During the panel segment on Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume pounced on NPR's Juan Williams when Williams, without offering any corroboration, channeled the Bush-hating spin of how "the President was talking about these mobile weapons labs after Defense people had told him they weren't being used for weapons of mass destruction." Hume corrected him: "No Defense people ever said that to him. There's not a speck of evidence to that effect, Juan." Williams refused to back down: "Well there is." Hume countered: "No, there's not." Williams was referring to an April 12 Washington Post story about how, in May of 2003, President Bush had described trailers found in Iraq as bio-weapons labs even though a Defense Department team had concluded a few days earlier that they had no such capability. But the Post story, exaggerated by many media outlets, did not claim Bush knew of the report and, in a portion of the story ignored by ABC News and others, noted that before Bush made his assertion a joint DIA/CIA report was distributed which stated the trailers were used to make WMD.

4.Totalitarian Soviet Communism as NBC Fashion Statement?
Tim Vincent, the Britain-born New York correspondent for Access Hollywood, sported a hammer and sickle T-shirt on Friday's show as he stood in front of NBC's Rockefeller Plaza complex and introduced a piece on American Dreamz, the movie takeoff of American Idol. Though he wore a jacket over the red shirt with the symbol of the regime which murdered tens of millions and oppressed hundreds of millions more for decades, a gold hammer and sickle was clearly visible inside a red star. The gold-outlined red star, sans the hammer and sickle, matches the Soviet's Red Army emblem. I don't get it. Is this some kind of cool statement with thirtysomethings, elite New Yorkers or Brits? Or is it just part of some promotion for an upcoming movie? Imagine the proper outrage that would explode if he had worn a Nazi swastika. I put "hammer and sickle t-shirt" into the Copernic search engine and though I did not find the exact shirt adorned by Vincent, I was shocked to find a couple of dozen sites which sell hammer and sickle T-shirts -- and mugs too.
AUDIO&VIDEO

Three days after CNN's Wolf Blitzer wondered, on The Situation Room, "if Bill Clinton could run for President again, would he be re-elected?" and Jack Cafferty excitedly agreed "he probably would be, in a heartbeat" since "Clinton would be the answer to a prayer" for Democrats, CNN's Bill Schneider on Friday awarded Bill Clinton with his "Political Play of the Week." Schneider touted how "in a series of appearances this week, the former President made a point of separating his career from his wife's," so "if Senator Clinton runs for President, it will be harder to depict her campaign as the Clinton restoration." Schneider trumpeted how this week Bill Clinton had "won the 'Great American Award' from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and the 'J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding.'" After a clip of Clinton praising Jimmy Carter for how "he won a Nobel Prize, which he richly deserved, as much for what he did after he left the White House as when he was in," Schneider heralded how "Bill Clinton is still campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize. But, for now, he'll just have to settle for the 'Political Play of the Week.'"

An April 12 CyberAlert item posted with video, "Blitzer, Cafferty Muse About 3rd Clinton Term: 'Answer to Prayer,'" recounted: CNN's Wolf Blitzer wondered, on Tuesday's Situation Room, "if Bill Clinton could run for President again, would he be re-elected?" Though Clinton never reached 50 percent (43% in 1992, 49% in 1996), Jack Cafferty excitedly agreed with the proposition: "Oh, I think he probably would be, in a heartbeat, don't you?" Cafferty listed some other potential candidates, such as "the Governor down in Virginia" who "might be a good guy" and "they got Barack Obama," but instead, "who do you see on TV? You see Hillary and Chuck Schumer and Ted Kennedy." Cafferty maintained: "Clinton would be the answer to a prayer. Not Hillary, her husband." The exchange followed the 5pm EDT hour "Cafferty File" segment question: "Can religion help the Democrats?" That was prompted by Bill Clinton's recommendation to Democrats that they emphasize "values" and religious beliefs. None of the e-mailed replies Cafferty read had made any suggestion about Bill Clinton running for President again. See: www.mediaresearch.org

A transcript of Schneider's "Political Play of the Week" aired at about 4:45pm EDT during the first hour of the April 14 Situation Room:

William Schneider: "Former Presidents are supposed to retire from politics. Can they still get the 'Political Play of the Week'? You bet." Schneider began his taped piece: "It's never happened before: the spouse of an ex-President running for President. If Senator Hillary Clinton jumps into the 2008 race, a lot of people will ask, exactly what role will her husband play?" Bill Clinton, on Tuesday: "I determined, when I left office, that I was absolutely not going to spend the rest of my life wishing I were still a President." Schneider: "In a series of appearances this week, the former President made a point of separating his career from his wife's. It's all about her now." Clinton in same appearance: "My wife said to tell you hello tonight, but, you know, she's a big-time politician now and she's in her hometown of Chicago, speaking to this big economic club." Schneider: "Mr. Clinton expressed penance for his sins, his sins -- not hers." Clinton: "A Pentecostal minister who is a friend of mine in Louisiana confessed that he voted for the re-election of the President. As a matter of fact, he said he wanted to make a confession to me. (Laughter) And I thought, that's pretty good, having a Pentecostal preacher confess to the world's most famous sinner. So, I listened to what he had to say." Schneider: "Bill Clinton lives and breathes politics. Has he really set aside his own political ambitions? Not entirely. This week, he won the 'Great American Award' from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and the 'J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding.' But it sounds like he's aiming for something else." Clinton: "The person whose career mine has most closely tracked and a man I helped to elect President, I'm proud to say, is Jimmy Carter. I'm very honored by the work he has done. And he won a Nobel Prize, which he richly deserved, as much for what he did after he left the White House as what he was in -- as when he was in." Schneider: "Bill Clinton is still campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize. But, for now, he'll just have to settle for the 'Political Play of the Week.'" Schneider, back on live: "Bill Clinton is trying to show he has got his own career and his own agenda. That way, if Senator Clinton runs for President, it will be harder to depict her campaign as the Clinton restoration -- Heidi." Host Heidi Collins: "Interesting."

Demonstrating that for the press corps "maverick" means going to the left -- or at least that you're a conservative-basher -- ABC's World News Tonight on Friday aired a story fretting about how the media's favorite Republican has agreed to give the commencement address at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. "During his 2000 campaign, McCain gathered support as a straight-talking maverick by attacking some members of his party's base," anchor Elizabeth Vargas recalled while viewers saw "Right Turn?" beneath a picture of McCain. She then warned: "Now it appears he's on a very different course." Reporter Dan Harris fondly remembered how in 2000 "straight talk included taking on powerful Christian conservatives like Jerry Falwell, whom he called an 'agent of intolerance.'" Harris then repeatedly pushed McCain to denounce Falwell: "Let me just press you on this. Do you think he's still an 'agent of intolerance'?...So do you take back your statement about him being an 'agent of intolerance'?"

Harris helpfully reminded viewers that "since 2000, Falwell has said Jews can't go to heaven unless they accept Christ, and on The 700 Club, that gays and feminists bore responsibility for 9/11." Noting how analysts say McCain is trying to "repair relations with the religious right" before he launches another presidential bid, Harris cautioned McCain: "Politicians often try to appeal to the party's base, but for McCain, doing so could jeopardize his reputation for being a different kind of politician." Of course, given the disrepute the media and many Republicans hold for Falwell, you could argue that reaching out to him is a "maverick" move for McCain. But you're only a "maverick" to journalists when you undermine a conservative or boost a liberal position.

The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed-captioning against the video to provide this transcript of the April 14 World News Tonight panic over McCain:

Anchor Elizabeth Vargas: "Now to politics. Arizona Senator John McCain spent the week on a six-state tour, and it looked an awful lot like a presidential campaign swing. He visited New Hampshire, Florida, Arkansas, Ohio, Minnesota and Iowa. During his 2000 campaign, McCain gathered support as a straight-talking maverick by attacking some members of his party's base. Now it appears he's on a very different course. ABC's Dan Harris reports tonight from Minnesota."

Dan Harris: "In 2000, John McCain ran for President as a different kind of politician." John McCain in 2000: "We're on a bus called the Straight Talk Express. I got to give you the straight talk." Harris: "Straight talk included taking on powerful Christian conservatives like Jerry Falwell, whom he called an 'agent of intolerance.'" McCain, February 29, 2000: "I reject individuals such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell who take our party in the wrong direction." Harris: "Six years later, just try to get a straight answer from McCain about his decision to speak at Falwell's Liberty University. Do you think he has changed?" McCain: "Reverend Falwell came to my office and said that he wanted to put our differences behind us." Harris: "Let me just press you on this. Do you think he's still an 'agent of intolerance'?" McCain: "I believe that we will continue to have disagreements." Harris: "So do you take back your statement about him being an 'agent of intolerance'?" McCain: "I will continue to have disagreements with Reverend Falwell, and I will hope that there are many areas in which we can agree." Harris: "Since 2000, Falwell has said Jews can't go to heaven unless they accept Christ, and on The 700 Club, that gays and feminists bore responsibility for 9/11." Jerry Falwell, on The 700 Club: "I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.'" Harris: "McCain says speaking at Liberty University does not mean he endorses Falwell's views. He says he's also speaking at several liberal universities, despite disagreeing with their policies barring military recruiters." McCain: "I'm not trying to make up to anyone, either liberal, conservative or anyone else. I'm trying to do what I think is best for America." Harris: "But political watchers, and even Jerry Falwell, say McCain is trying to repair relations with the religious right." Falwell: "I do think, like any wise politician moving towards a presidential election, he is trying to build alliances." Harris concluded: "Politicians often try to appeal to the party's base, but for McCain, doing so could jeopardize his reputation for being a different kind of politician. Dan Harris, ABC News, St. Cloud, Minnesota."

During the panel segment on Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume pounced on NPR's Juan Williams when Williams, without offering any corroboration, channeled the Bush-hating spin of how "the President was talking about these mobile weapons labs after Defense people had told him they weren't being used for weapons of mass destruction." Hume corrected him: "No Defense people ever said that to him. There's not a speck of evidence to that effect, Juan." Williams refused to back down: "Well there is." Hume countered: "No, there's not." Williams was referring to an April 12 Washington Post story about how, in May of 2003, President Bush had described trailers found in Iraq as bio-weapons labs even though a Defense Department team had concluded a few days earlier that they had no such capability. But the Post story, exaggerated by many media outlets, did not claim Bush knew of the report and, in a portion of the story ignored by ABC News and others, noted that before Bush made his assertion a joint DIA/CIA report was distributed which stated the trailers were used to make WMD.

The April 13 CyberAlert recounted: Forget the lack of evidence, we have our story of presidential duplicity and we're sticking with it. Picking up on a front page Washington Post story about how back in May of 2003 President Bush had cited trailers found in Iraq as proof of WMD, when a secret field report filed two days earlier had concluded the trailers had nothing to do with bio-weapons, on Wednesday morning ABC's Charles Gibson trumpeted how Bush made a statement he "knew at the time that was not true" and so it's "another embarrassment for the White House." Reporter Martha Raddatz agreed "it certainly is." But though as reported by FNC's Carl Cameron, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan pointed out at the Wednesday briefing that the day before Bush's 2003 comments a joint CIA/DIA report had concluded the trailers were bio-weapons labs, ABC's World News Tonight plowed ahead Wednesday night, ignoring the more substantial report which had much-wider distribution -- and CNN's Jack Cafferty ("ABC News has even reported that President Bush knew what he was saying about those trailers was false"), as well as MSNBC's Keith Olbermann ("The President knew they weren't mobile weapons labs from the very start. How Nixonian is this? We will ask John Dean"), piled on.

For the complete rundown and more details about the inaccuracy of the story, check: www.mediaresearch.org

The exchange on the April 16 Fox News Sunday came during a discussion about calls for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign. Host Chris Wallace quickly chided Hume and Williams for going off topic, and the panel never returned to the subject:

Juan Williams: "What it comes down to is people having a sense that the war effort, the justification for the war, the way the war has been led, has just been problematic, and people are now going back and arguing about weapons of mass destruction, who knew what when with the Washington Post story this week saying that the President was talking about these mobile weapons labs after Defense people had told him they weren't being used for weapons of mass destruction and I think the whole notion of-" Brit Hume: "No Defense people ever said that to him. There's not a speck of evidence to that effect, Juan." Williams: "Well there is." Hume: "No, there's not." Williams: "There's evidence that this special group-" Chris Wallace: "Wait, wait, guys. With all due respect, we're off the subject of Rumsfeld."

Tim Vincent, the Britain-born New York correspondent for Access Hollywood, sported a hammer and sickle T-shirt on Friday's show as he stood in front of NBC's Rockefeller Plaza complex and introduced a piece on American Dreamz,
the movie takeoff of American Idol. Though he wore a jacket over
the red shirt with the symbol of the regime which murdered tens of
millions and oppressed hundreds of millions more for decades, a
gold hammer and sickle was clearly visible

inside a red star. The gold-outlined red star, sans the hammer and sickle, matches the Soviet's Red Army emblem. I don't get it. Is this some kind of cool statement with thirtysomethings, elite New Yorkers or Brits? Or is it just part of some promotion for an upcoming movie? Imagine the proper outrage that would explode if he had worn a Nazi swastika. I put "hammer and sickle t-shirt" into the Copernic search engine and though I did not find the exact shirt adorned by Vincent, I was shocked to find a couple of dozen sites which sell hammer and sickle T-shirts -- and mugs too.

Vincent, a veteran of the BBC as detailed in his posted bio, is also a contributor of celebrity news for NBC's Today show. Access Hollywood is produced by NBC at its Burbank facility and is carried in the early evening by all the NBC-owned stations -- and by affiliates of NBC and other networks in other cities.

[This item was posted, with video and illustrative still shots, early Saturday morning on the MRC's NewsBusters blog. The screen shots and video will be added to the posted version of this CyberAlert item, but in the meantime, go to: newsbusters.org ]

Viewers of the April 14 Access Hollywood saw Tim Vincent for 15 seconds with his communist T-shirt as he introduced this story: "With some 30 million people tuning in every week for American Idol, it was only a matter of time before the big screen cashed in. So get ready for American Dreamz, complete with a British gent that everybody loves to hate. Why do they always pick on the Brits?"

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